MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - NATO's nascent missile defense system does not threaten Russian strategic nuclear forces, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said in Moscow on Thursday.
Russian strategic sites located in Kozelsk and Tatishchevo can be aimed at Chicago and Los Angeles, and Russian missiles located in Russia's Far East can threaten the U.S. eastern coast, Vershbow said at an international conference on Missile Defense Factor in Establishing New Security Environment.
Even Russian analysts are of the view that they cannot be blocked by a NATO missile defense system, which will be unable to threaten Russia's strategic nuclear forces either at the first, or the second, or the third or the fourth stage, he said.
NATO will have no potential to neutralize Russia's deterrence forces, since the missile defense shield the alliance is building now will be able to intercept only a small amount of relatively imperfect ballistic missiles, he said.
The U.S. and NATO have no desire to undermine global strategic stability, Vershbow said. If NATO defends Europe from ballistic missiles outside the Euro-Atlantic responsibility area, this does not mean Russian territory, he said.
Southeastern Europe and southern Russia are the principal risk areas now, and the entire Europe will be exposed to attack by the end of the decade, and this is why NATO plans to build missile defense sites in Romania and Poland, he said.
NATO missile defense sites in Romania and Poland are absolutely not designed to defend from Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, not to mention that Russian ICBMs have a very high velocity and are too perfect to be intercepted by NATO missiles, Vershbow said. On the other hand, Russia has too many ICBMs to be intercepted even by a larger number of interceptor missiles than NATO plans to deploy, he said.